Projects
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Ad Theologiam Theology core courses are taught by many instructors with differing approaches, not following a shared curriculum but often touching on common figures and texts. Professor Boyd Taylor Coolman saw the need for a repository that would allow faculty and Teaching Fellows (some of whom are planning classes for the first time) to share readings, images, syllabi and other teaching resources. He worked with Sarah Castricum, Instructional Designer in IDeS and occasional instructor for Introduction to Christian Theology, to develop a site where he and his colleagues could contribute, search for and comment on content. more>> |
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Astonishing the Senses Demo As teachers of theater, one of the greatest challenges Professors Crystal Tiala and Jennifer Stiles in the Department of Theatre face is the ability to effectively convey the interdisciplinary nuances of theatrical style. Professors Tiala and Stiles developed a Flash-based demo for a media book that teaches the principle styles of Western theater. more>> |
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Boston College Biology Commons Professor Clare O’Connor (Biology) teaches an upper level laboratory course, and wanted to make a collection of methods available online so that it could be shared with her class, as well as colleagues at BC and other institutions. The web site she is creating includes visual tutorials as well as written instructions in pdf form, and links to resources for further study. A further stage of development will include publication of data from student experiments. more>> |
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Becker Collection A few years ago, Fine Arts Department professor Sheila Gallagher began taking a closer look at a box of old drawings that had been sitting in a closet in her parents’ home. The drawings belonged to her great-grandfather, Joseph Becker, and his fellow artist-reporters who worked at Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Weekly observing, drawing, and sending back for publication images of the Civil War, the construction of the railroads, the Irish immigration, the Chinese in the West, the Indian wars, the Chicago fire, and numerous other aspects of nineteenth-century American culture. more>> |
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Center for Home Care A collaboration between the Connell School of Nursing and the Visiting Nurse Association of Boston, the Center provides community health training for CSON students and professional development for VNAB staff members. Center Director Adele Pike wanted to establish a way for the two groups to share common resources, and better integrate theoretical and practical information. more>> |
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Child Growth and Development Coordinating the social science core courses Child Growth and Development (PY030) and Family, School and Society (PY031), Professors Penny Hauser-Cram and Jackie Lerner provide a wealth of professional and multi-media material to 8-10 sections and their instructors. They saw the benefit of delivering these resources through a web site so students could continue to refer to them outside class, and have convenient access to the library databases essential to work in the field (one assignment involves writing a research literature review). With the site in place, meetings of all the section instructors can focus on the pedagogical questions of teaching their complex material. more>> |
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China Gateway China Gateway was envisioned by Professor Rebecca Nedostup of the History Department as an introduction to the wealth of information available on China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the Chinese diaspora. To create the site, she drew on distinctive Boston College resources as well as the wider internet and digitized print material, supplemented by specially created learning objects. Taking an inter-disciplinary approach, she selected content that would be of use to both students and instructors in a variety of fields and for a variety of purposes, from general study to travel to Asia to discovery of the Chinese community here in Boston. more>> |
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Clinical Strategies for the Clinical Nurse Specialist Inspired by the Center for Home Care site, Professor Joyce Pulcini and her colleagues in the Connell School of Nursing envisioned a web site for CNS students and faculty as well as practitioners in local hospitals and agencies, some of whom supervise CSON students in the field. They also had the goal of providing a WebCT environment rich in content, communication and assessment activities, for a graduate CNS course with a significant online component. more>> |
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Covering Photography Covering Photography is a web-based archive and resource for the study of the relationship between the history of photography and book cover design. It was created by Professor Karl Baden (Fine Arts Department), who wanted to make publicly available his 1000+ collection of images of classic photos, used and recontextualized in various ways on book covers. He envisioned a database which could be searched by a variety of categories (author, photographer, etc.) and which could display juxtaposed images of book covers to allow for comparison. The project is of interest to students of photography (he uses it in the courses he teaches), designers and critics alike, and has received national acclaim. more>> |
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C21 Online C21Online is the online continuing education initiative co-sponsored by the Church in the 21st Century and the Institute of Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry. Dr. Barbara Radtke, Program Coordinator for C21 Online, wanted to expand the continuing education mission of C21Online through the development of a public website and a series of WebCT courses. more>> |
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Death of Jesus Phil Cunningham (Center for Christian-Jewish Learning) and Barbara Radtke (C21 Online) approached IDeS with an idea for an online tutorial that would enable participants to explore the Gospel passion narratives in new ways. Their target audience for this tutorial included religious educators, liturgy planners, members of scripture study groups and preachers, as well as a general audience of anyone looking to deepen their understanding of the Gospel narratives. We created a website featuring interactive commentaries that guide users through each of the five scenes in the four Gospel narratives, supplemented by historical background materials and an introduction to reading the bible in the Catholic tradition. more>> |
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First-Year Writing Seminar Funded by a Faculty Summer Workshop Grant, Lad Tobin and Ricco Siasoco collaborated with IDeS to create an online teaching resource repository to support faculty who teach the First-Year Writing Seminar. This site is designed to offer faculty a collaborative space where they can share teaching resources such as syllabi, readings, and assignments and where they can discuss the challenging teaching issues they face. more>> |
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Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) Oral History Project As it celebrates the 125th anniversary of its founding, the GAA is working with Boston College - Ireland on an oral history project to create a record of what the Association has meant to the culture and people of Ireland. The project will collect interviews with everyone connected with the games, from players and coaches to grounds-staff and fans, as well as photographs and other related documents. Highlights from this emerging collection are displayed on a web site, where members of the public can watch video and listen to audio clips and view other content. The site features a different theme each month and includes information about how people of all ages can take part. more>> |
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Generation Pulse Professor Belle Liang (LSOE) was moved by the devastation after Hurricane Katrina, especially its effect on displaced youth, and wanted to create a supportive environment in which they could help themselves and each other by exchanging experiences. She gathered a team of students and they set out to create a web site, which now has sections on issues facing teens, opportunities for outreach (for example through service programs), and global trends and events. One area is devoted entirely to writing and art work contributed by young people, and the "world" section also includes photojournals. more>> |
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Global History Archive The new History Department core takes a global perspective, ranging across continents and centuries, and Core Moderator Franziska Seraphim wanted to find a way for faculty to share material for these courses. The repository she and her colleague Robin Fleming have created, with the assistance of a number of the department’s graduate students, includes texts, images and maps, and can be searched by keywords and browsed through a menu which reflects the structure of the core. Instructors can contribute and comment on items and participate in forums, which will encourage ongoing exchanges about pedagogy and the teaching of history. more>> |
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Global Perspectives on Gender Inequalities With observers of economic development and the growth of civil society increasingly recognizing the importance of gender issues to these concerns, Professor Karen Kayser proposed a new course on the subject for the Graduate School of Social Work. She wanted the course to have a significant online presence so that it could provide resources conveniently for GSSW students with limited time on campus, and include students at other institutions. more>> |
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Immersive Environment for Psychological Research Faculty members Maya Tamir (Psychology) and Aaron Walsh (Woods College of Advancing Studies) shared the goal of creating games based in a virtual environment which could be used in psychology experiments. Their collaboration allowed students of 3D Graphics and Virtual Reality technology to further their skills in those fields. Professor Tamir now uses the two games they produced to conduct experimental research on goal-driven human behavior, and to train students of social psychology about experimental designs through hands-on experience. more>> |
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Instructors' Workbook for Basic Skills in Clinical Practice As Coordinator of a multi-section course required for all Graduate School of Social Work students, Clinical Assistant Professor Robin Warsh was seeking a way to deliver resources for the 8 – 10 instructors teaching the course each fall. Respecting their differences in approach, she envisioned a Blackboard Vista site serving as a repository for lecture material, powerpoint presentations, video clips and other resources that faculty could draw from as needed and to which they could all contribute. more>> |
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Irish Studies Repository The Irish Studies Program at Boston College offers courses in history, language, sociology and the arts. Codirectors Robert Savage and Marjorie Howes worked with other instructors to develop a repository where common resources for teaching can be stored, browsed and searched in ways that promote the interdisciplinary vision of the program. Featured content will include images and rare texts drawn from faculty members' collections and the BC Libraries, as well as resources gathered for exhibits and other special events. more>> |
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John Adams Marc Landy, a professor in the political science department, is the director of an NEH summer program on John Adams. As a collaboration with the Adams National Historical Park, this two-week workshop is designed to provide community college faculty the chance to deepen their understanding of John Adams in the rich historical context of Boston. Professor Landy needed a website that would serve as a marketing tool to spread the word about the program, as a communication medium for those planning to attend, and as a course website for participants during and after the workshop. more>> |
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Professional Nursing II NU 264 01: Professional Nursing II focuses on the transition from the student to practitioner role. The increased enrollment in this last required nursing course for graduating seniors motivated Judy Vessey of the William F. Connell School of Nursing to move from a straight lecture format to an interactive web-based format in order to meet the course goals of developing critical thinking and practical technology skills for the practitioner. Judy Vessey’s central aim for this site was to enhance the course content and delivery by using a variety of technological applications for class preparation and in-class activities. Web based class material enables students to access them ahead of time, as well as download audio-visuals onto a notebook computer for class use. more>> |
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OB Toolkit With over 800 students in multiple courses, Professor Michael O'Leary in the Organization Studies Department wanted to create a web-based teaching toolkit containing learning objects (e.g., syllabi, articles, assignments, in and out of class exercises, video clips, etc) for faculty and teaching fellows teaching multiple Organizational Behavior courses. To create the content for the site, a number of learning objects professors typically use in their Organizational Behavior courses were collected, digitized, and uploaded into the site. Users of the site can comment on how they used individual resources as well as add additional resources. As a way to continue to add new content, the site has been integrated with a teaching practicum course. more>> |
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Patient Assignment Game The Patient Assignment Game was envisioned by Professor Robin Wood in the Connell School of Nursing. Dr. Wood wanted to create an interactive simulation for post-Masters-level nurse educators. Simulating a clinical environment, users practice making patient assignments. Users play the game by pairing hypothetical students with patients on a typical clinical day. They also have the ability to revise the assignments when unexpected events ensue. more>> |
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Perspectives I Encompassing multiple instructors and more than twenty sections, this distinctive Boston College program seemed an ideal candidate for a digital repository of shared material. The faculty team also wanted a means of visually representing the relationships among philosophical and religious movements and leaders, and other forms of culture. To protect the resources they were gathering and observe copyright restrictions, the instructors decided to take advantage of the password protection offered by WebCT and have a course site established in which all Perspectives I students would be automatically enrolled. more>> |
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Rhetorical Tradition The Communication Department hoped digital technology could provide a way to make the media-rich offerings of this flagship course extend even further. Professor Bonnie Jefferson wanted to make the audio and video clips of the great speeches and other examples she was showing the students available to them outside class for further study. To deepen their experience with these canons of rhetoric, she also wanted to integrate supporting information such as text versions, biographies of major speakers, and supplementary video and audio. more>> |
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Roma: Caput Mundi One of the most challenging pedagogical aspects of art history is to recreate the original context of art and architecture while teaching in the classroom. Through a collaboration between Stephanie Leone, Associate Professor, Fine Arts Department, O'Neil Library, and Instructional Design and eTeaching Services, Roma: Caput Mundi was created to facilitate students' understanding of the Rome as a physical entity. By navigating the map and interacting with the monuments, students take a virtual tour of Renaissance and Baroque Rome, which helps them to learn about the interrelationships between monuments and between monuments and the urban environment. more>> |
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The Shelley Project “The Shelley Project” was developed by IDeS and Professor Mark O’Connor of the Arts and Sciences Honors Program with funding from the Davis Foundation. The Flash-application provides a contextual exploration of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein through the art of J. David, Géricault, Delacroix and Turner, and the music of Paganini, Liszt, Brahms, Rachmaninoff, Berlioz, Mozart, Beethoven, Monteverdi and Gregorian Chant. more>> |
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Spiritual Diversity in Social Work Practice For a future Independent Study on Spiritual Diversity in Social Work Practice, Professor Othelia Lee (Graduate School of Social Work) wanted to offer her working graduate students the convenience of centralized content in the familiar environment of Blackboard Vista. She organized the content in learning modules, one for each class session, custom designed to open with an introductory overview and image selected to reflect the theme. more>> |
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20th Century and the Tradition The Arts and Science Honors program wanted to develop a site that would serve as a common resource for the course "20th Century and the Tradition," a seminar required for all 3rd-year students in the program. Because this course is highly interdisciplinary in nature, the Honors Program needed a vehicle for distributing a wide variety of multimedia course material to both students and faculty. more>> |
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Torts During the fall of 2006, the Law School changed it’s first year curriculum, moving three large section courses (torts, contracts and property) from a two-quarter format into a one-semester schedule. Professor Judy McMorrow, who regularly teachings the Torts course, approached IDES to help her devise a system of meaningful feedback that would help students prepare for final exam questions within the constraints of the shortened course. more>> |
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XUL Professor Ernesto Livon-Grosman of the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures wanted to create an electronic version of XUL: Old and New Sign. XUL is a journal of experimental writing first published in Buenos Aires in the early 1980s during the time of one of the most repressive military dictatorships in Argentinian history. At the time of its first publication, XUL’s defiant gesture toward censorship made it possible to create a forum for experimental poetics. Professor Livon-Grosman owns one of the few complete sets of the 11 paper issues and has exclusive rights to publish XUL electronically. more>> |